Judges 11 :: New King James Version (NKJV)

Jephthah

Jephthah Defends Israel

Jdg 11:1Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor, but he was the son of a harlot; and Gilead begot Jephthah.

Jdg 11:2

Jdg 11:2Gilead’s wife bore sons; and when his wife’s sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out, and said to him, “You shall have no inheritance in our father’s house, for you are the son of another woman.”

Jdg 11:3

Jdg 11:3Then Jephthah fled from his brothers and dwelt in the land of Tob; and worthless men banded together with Jephthah and went out raiding with him.

Jdg 11:4

Jdg 11:4It came to pass after a time that the people of Ammon made war against Israel.

Jdg 11:5

Jdg 11:5And so it was, when the people of Ammon made war against Israel, that the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob.

Jdg 11:6

Jdg 11:6Then they said to Jephthah, “Come and be our commander, that we may fight against the people of Ammon.”

Jdg 11:7

Jdg 11:7So Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “Did you not hate me, and expel me from my father’s house? Why have you come to me now when you are in distress?”

Jdg 11:8

Jdg 11:8And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “That is why we have turned again to you now, that you may go with us and fight against the people of Ammon, and be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.”

Jdg 11:9

Jdg 11:9So Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “If you take me back home to fight against the people of Ammon, and the LORD delivers them to me, shall I be your head?”

Jdg 11:10

Jdg 11:10And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “The LORD will be a witness between us, if we do not do according to your words.”

Jdg 11:11

Jdg 11:11Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and commander over them; and Jephthah spoke all his words before the LORD in Mizpah.

Jdg 11:12

Jdg 11:12Now Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the people of Ammon, saying, “What do you have against me, that you have come to fight against me in my land?”

Jdg 11:13

Jdg 11:13And the king of the people of Ammon answered the messengers of Jephthah, “Because Israel took away my land when they came up out of Egypt, from the Arnon as far as the Jabbok, and to the Jordan. Now therefore, restore those lands peaceably.”

Jdg 11:14

Jdg 11:14So Jephthah again sent messengers to the king of the people of Ammon,

Jdg 11:15

Jdg 11:15and said to him, “Thus says Jephthah: ‘Israel did not take away the land of Moab, nor the land of the people of Ammon;

Jdg 11:16

Jdg 11:16‘for when Israel came up from Egypt, they walked through the wilderness as far as the Red Sea and came to Kadesh.

Jdg 11:17

Jdg 11:17‘Then Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, “Please let me pass through your land.” But the king of Edom would not heed. And in like manner they sent to the king of Moab, but he would not consent. So Israel remained in Kadesh.

Jdg 11:18

Jdg 11:18‘And they went along through the wilderness and bypassed the land of Edom and the land of Moab, came to the east side of the land of Moab, and encamped on the other side of the Arnon. But they did not enter the border of Moab, for the Arnon was the border of Moab.

Jdg 11:19

Jdg 11:19‘Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, king of Heshbon; and Israel said to him, “Please let us pass through your land into our place.”

Jdg 11:20

Jdg 11:20‘But Sihon did not trust Israel to pass through his territory. So Sihon gathered all his people together, encamped in Jahaz, and fought against Israel.

Jdg 11:21

Jdg 11:21‘And the LORD God of Israel delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they defeated them. Thus Israel gained possession of all the land of the Amorites, who inhabited that country.

Jdg 11:22

Jdg 11:22‘They took possession of all the territory of the Amorites, from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from the wilderness to the Jordan.

Jdg 11:23

Jdg 11:23‘And now the LORD God of Israel has dispossessed the Amorites from before His people Israel; should you then possess it?

Jdg 11:24

Jdg 11:24‘Will you not possess whatever Chemosh your god gives you to possess? So whatever the LORD our God takes possession of before us, we will possess.

Jdg 11:25

Jdg 11:25‘And now, are you any better than Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever strive against Israel? Did he ever fight against them?

Jdg 11:26

Jdg 11:26‘While Israel dwelt in Heshbon and its villages, in Aroer and its villages, and in all the cities along the banks of the Arnon, for three hundred years, why did you not recover them within that time?

Jdg 11:27

Jdg 11:27‘Therefore I have not sinned against you, but you wronged me by fighting against me. May the LORD, the Judge, render judgment this day between the children of Israel and the people of Ammon.’ ”

Jdg 11:28

Jdg 11:28However, the king of the people of Ammon did not heed the words which Jephthah sent him.

Jephthah’s Vow and Victory

Jdg 11:29

Jdg 11:29Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh, and passed through Mizpah of Gilead; and from Mizpah of Gilead he advanced toward the people of Ammon.

Jdg 11:30

Jdg 11:30And Jephthah made a vow to the LORD, and said, “If You will indeed deliver the people of Ammon into my hands,

Jdg 11:31

Jdg 11:31“then it will be that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the people of Ammon, shall surely be the LORD’s, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering.”

Jdg 11:32

Jdg 11:32So Jephthah advanced toward the people of Ammon to fight against them, and the LORD delivered them into his hands.

Jdg 11:33

Jdg 11:33And he defeated them from Aroer as far as Minnith—twenty cities—and to Abel Keramim,[fn] with a very great slaughter. Thus the people of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel.

Jephthah’s Daughter

Jdg 11:34

Jdg 11:34When Jephthah came to his house at Mizpah, there was his daughter, coming out to meet him with timbrels and dancing; and she was his only child. Besides her he had neither son nor daughter.

Jdg 11:35

Jdg 11:35And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he tore his clothes, and said, “Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low! You are among those who trouble me! For I have given my word to the LORD, and I cannot go back on it.”

Jdg 11:36

Jdg 11:36So she said to him, “My father, if you have given your word to the LORD, do to me according to what has gone out of your mouth, because the LORD has avenged you of your enemies, the people of Ammon.”

Jdg 11:37

Jdg 11:37Then she said to her father, “Let this thing be done for me: let me alone for two months, that I may go and wander on the mountains and bewail my virginity, my friends and I.”

Jdg 11:38

Jdg 11:38So he said, “Go.” And he sent her away for two months; and she went with her friends, and bewailed her virginity on the mountains.

Jdg 11:39

Jdg 11:39And it was so at the end of two months that she returned to her father, and he carried out his vow with her which he had vowed. She knew no man. And it became a custom in Israel

Jdg 11:40

Jdg 11:40that the daughters of Israel went four days each year to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.

See the NKJV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).

NKJV Footnotes

(11:33)

Literally Plain of Vineyards

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Judges Chapter 11 — Additional Translations:

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Judges 11 :: New King James Version (NKJV)

NKJV Footnotes

Judges Chapter 11 — Additional Translations:

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